FAA changes JFK rules after 2nd incident

NEW YORK, July 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Federal AviationAdministration officials say they have changed take-off and landingprocedures at New York's Kennedy Airport after two near collisions.

Air traffic controllers working at Kennedy and a nearbyregional control center said the first incident happened last weekwhen a Cayman Airways jet and a LAN Chile airliner came close tocolliding while using perpendicular runways at Kennedy, but the FAAdenied there was a problem, The New York Daily News reportedSaturday.

FAA officials were at the Kennedy International Airporttower investigating that incident when another one happened Fridayon the same two Kennedy runways, the newspaper said, this timeinvolving a Delta Airlines flight and a regional jet.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the latest incident alsodid not meet its criteria for a "near collision," but did say theagency has changed takeoff and landing procedures for the airport'sintersecting runways.

Barrett Byrnes, a spokesman for Kennedy's air trafficcontrollers, told the Daily News the FAA's moves were "wonderfuleven though they're late. We've been trying to change (the JFKprocedures) since the mid-1990s."